[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":164},["ShallowReactive",2],{"note-why-15-plug-types":3,"note-surround-why-15-plug-types":158},{"id":4,"title":5,"badge":6,"body":7,"date":146,"description":147,"extension":148,"meta":149,"mood":150,"navigation":151,"path":152,"schemaOrg":153,"seo":154,"sitemap":155,"stem":156,"__hash__":157},"notes\u002Fnotes\u002Fwhy-15-plug-types.md","Why does the world have 15 plug types?","History",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":138},"minimark",[10,14,19,31,35,38,94,98,109,113,124,130],[11,12,13],"p",{},"Humanity has agreed on many things. The metre. The second. That pineapple on pizza is worth arguing about. But when it came to the shape of the holes in our walls, we threw up our hands and said \"you do you.\"",[15,16,18],"h2",{"id":17},"it-started-in-america","It started in America",[11,20,21,22,26,27,30],{},"The first plugs weren't plugs at all. Early electric appliances screwed into ",[23,24,25],"strong",{},"light bulb sockets",", because that's where the electricity was. In 1904, an American inventor named Harvey Hubbell patented a separable plug, and soon after came the two flat blades that would become ",[23,28,29],{},"Type A",".",[15,32,34],{"id":33},"then-everyone-else-got-electricity","Then everyone else got electricity",[11,36,37],{},"Here's the problem: electrification happened country by country, over about 60 years, with no international coordination. Each country picked whatever its engineers liked, and once millions of walls had those sockets, changing them became effectively impossible.",[39,40,41,52,67,77],"ul",{},[42,43,44,47,48,51],"li",{},[23,45,46],{},"Germany"," came up with the Schuko (",[23,49,50],{},"Type F",") in the 1920s: symmetrical, grounded via side clips, and reversible.",[42,53,54,57,58,62,63,66],{},[23,55,56],{},"France"," put a ground pin ",[59,60,61],"em",{},"in the socket"," instead of the plug (",[23,64,65],{},"Type E","), because of course it did.",[42,68,69,72,73,76],{},[23,70,71],{},"Britain"," rebuilt after WWII with a new fused plug (",[23,74,75],{},"Type G","), partly because copper was scarce and ring circuits saved wire. The fuse in each plug made it safe.",[42,78,79,82,83,82,86,89,90,93],{},[23,80,81],{},"Switzerland",", ",[23,84,85],{},"Italy",[23,87,88],{},"Denmark"," and ",[23,91,92],{},"Israel"," all went their own way too.",[15,95,97],{"id":96},"the-europlug-a-peace-treaty","The Europlug: a peace treaty",[11,99,100,101,104,105,108],{},"In the 1960s, Europe noticed it had a problem and invented the ",[23,102,103],{},"Europlug"," (",[23,106,107],{},"Type C","): two thin round pins, no ground, low current. It was designed to fit almost every socket on the continent. It's the closest thing the world has to a universal plug, and it's why Plugbert's top tip for most of Europe is \"bring a Type C.\"",[15,110,112],{"id":111},"the-last-attempt","The last attempt",[11,114,115,116,119,120,123],{},"In 1986 the IEC designed a genuinely universal plug, IEC 60906-1. Literally one country adopted it: ",[23,117,118],{},"Brazil",", in 2011, as ",[23,121,122],{},"Type N",". South Africa adopted a close cousin. Everyone else said \"maybe later.\"",[11,125,126,127,129],{},"So here we are. Fifteen types. A to O. Plugbert has met all of them, and he'd like you to know that ",[23,128,75],{}," is lovely once you get to know it, but you should never, ever step on one.",[11,131,132,133,30],{},"Browse them all on the ",[134,135,137],"a",{"href":136},"\u002Fplugs","plug types page",{"title":139,"searchDepth":140,"depth":140,"links":141},"",2,[142,143,144,145],{"id":17,"depth":140,"text":18},{"id":33,"depth":140,"text":34},{"id":96,"depth":140,"text":97},{"id":111,"depth":140,"text":112},"2026-09-28","A brief, mostly true history of how humanity failed to agree on holes in walls.","md",{},"smug",true,"\u002Fnotes\u002Fwhy-15-plug-types",null,{"title":5,"description":147},{"loc":152},"notes\u002Fwhy-15-plug-types","KKexMnY5rgVNjGlCuPrk-jPtrLUxPblq5OQsNfZ_RqQ",[153,159],{"title":160,"path":161,"stem":162,"description":163,"children":-1},"The hair dryer incident (a tragedy in 230 volts)","\u002Fnotes\u002Fhair-dryer-incident","notes\u002Fhair-dryer-incident","A short story about an American hair dryer, a Parisian hotel, and the smell of regret.",1791256129790]